Moscow State Pedagogical University
Encyclopedia
The Moscow State Pedagogical University, previously known as the Moscow University for Women, the Second Moscow State University, the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute and the Moscow State V. I. Lenin Pedagogical Institute, and with origins dating back to 1872, is a major educational and scientific institution in Moscow
, Russia
, with eighteen faculties and seven branches in other Russian cities.
's Higher Women's Courses, founded in 1872, and was subsequently reconstituted several times. In 1918 it admitted men and became the Second Moscow State University, then was reformed without its Medical and Chemical Technology schools as the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, which for a time was known as the Moscow State V. I. Lenin Pedagogical Institute. In 1990, the Institute regained the status of university and thus its present name.
, consented to the opening by Professor V. I. Guerrier
of "Higher Women's Courses" as a private educational institution and approved Regulations for this purpose. In November 1872, the first building of the Moscow Higher Women's Courses was opened at Volkhonka, ushering in the era of higher education for women in Russia.
Initially, courses were for two years and were in both humanities
and natural sciences. At first, there were two departments, History & Philology and Physics & Mathematics. In Moscow alone, 1,232 women were admitted to the courses between 1872 and 1886.
A female student attending a course became known as a kursistka. While still a young doctor, Anton Chekhov
paid for his sister Masha to attend Guerrier courses.
In 1886, the Ministry of Education prevented the admission of new students to Guerrier's courses, and they ended in 1888.
In 1915-1916, the Moscow Higher Women's Courses, sometimes called the Moscow University for Women, received the right of issuing diploma
s. By 1918, the institution had 8,300 thousand students and in numbers was second only to the Moscow State University
.
During this period, the staff of the University included Dmitri Ivanovich Sakharov, the father of Andrei Sakharov
.
From 1926, the University included a Department of Yiddish Language
and Literature, the primary purpose of which was to train teachers for the Soviet Union's Yiddish language primary and secondary schools.
In 1927, day care
nurseries for the children of students were in place, and in 1928 new buildings to provide accommodation for 1,000 students were built at a cost of one million Roubles
.
From 1924 to 1930, the University's rector was Albert Petrovich Pinkevich, an important educationist and author of The New Education in the Soviet Republic, who became a victim of Stalin's Great Purge
, "disappearing" in 1937 to a Gulag
labour camp
.
) and the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, based on the teaching faculty.
By the mid 1930s the Yiddish department, now part of the Institute and headed by Meir Wiener, had become one of the world's leading centres of Yiddish scholarship.
The Seventh International Bakhtin
Conference took place at the University in June, 1995.
and the Russian Academy of Education.
The Prometei publishing house, of Moscow, sometimes spelt Prometey, is attached to the University.
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, with eighteen faculties and seven branches in other Russian cities.
History
The university originates in GuerrierVladimir Guerrier
Vladimir Ivanovich Guerrier was a Russian historian, professor of history at Moscow State University from 1868 to 1904. As the founder of the "Courses Guerrier", he was a leading instigator of higher education for women in Russia....
's Higher Women's Courses, founded in 1872, and was subsequently reconstituted several times. In 1918 it admitted men and became the Second Moscow State University, then was reformed without its Medical and Chemical Technology schools as the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, which for a time was known as the Moscow State V. I. Lenin Pedagogical Institute. In 1990, the Institute regained the status of university and thus its present name.
Guerrier Courses (1872–1888)
In May 1872 the Russian Minister of Education, Count Dmitry TolstoyDmitry Tolstoy
Count Dmitry Andreyevich Tolstoy was a Russian statesman, a member of the State Council of Imperial Russia . He belonged to the comital branch of the Tolstoy family....
, consented to the opening by Professor V. I. Guerrier
Vladimir Guerrier
Vladimir Ivanovich Guerrier was a Russian historian, professor of history at Moscow State University from 1868 to 1904. As the founder of the "Courses Guerrier", he was a leading instigator of higher education for women in Russia....
of "Higher Women's Courses" as a private educational institution and approved Regulations for this purpose. In November 1872, the first building of the Moscow Higher Women's Courses was opened at Volkhonka, ushering in the era of higher education for women in Russia.
Initially, courses were for two years and were in both humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
and natural sciences. At first, there were two departments, History & Philology and Physics & Mathematics. In Moscow alone, 1,232 women were admitted to the courses between 1872 and 1886.
A female student attending a course became known as a kursistka. While still a young doctor, Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
paid for his sister Masha to attend Guerrier courses.
In 1886, the Ministry of Education prevented the admission of new students to Guerrier's courses, and they ended in 1888.
Public Lectures and Collective Lessons (1888–1900)
Following the end of the Guerrier courses, Public Lectures for women were organized systematically, most of them given by the same teachers, and in the same premises, as before. The Public Lectures lasted until 1892, when they were closed by the government. From 1886 there were also Collective Lessons, with a bias towards the natural sciences.Moscow Higher Women's Courses, or Moscow University for Women (1900–1918)
In 1900 the title of Moscow Higher Women's Courses was instituted, and in 1906 a School of Medicine was launched. Courses were taught by outstanding scholars. In 1907, educational buildings by the architect Soloviev opened in Little Tsaritsyn Street, now Small Pirogovskay Street. This is now the main building of the Moscow State Pedagogical University. In 1908 came the Anatomical Theatre, now the Russian State Medical University, and the Physical Chemistry Building, now the Moscow Academy of Fine Chemical Technology.In 1915-1916, the Moscow Higher Women's Courses, sometimes called the Moscow University for Women, received the right of issuing diploma
Diploma
A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...
s. By 1918, the institution had 8,300 thousand students and in numbers was second only to the Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
.
Second Moscow State University (1918–1930)
In 1918, the University was renamed the Second Moscow State University and was often called also the Second Moscow University, beginning to admit men as well as women.During this period, the staff of the University included Dmitri Ivanovich Sakharov, the father of Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. He earned renown as the designer of the Soviet Union's Third Idea, a codename for Soviet development of thermonuclear weapons. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the...
.
From 1926, the University included a Department of Yiddish Language
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
and Literature, the primary purpose of which was to train teachers for the Soviet Union's Yiddish language primary and secondary schools.
In 1927, day care
Day care
Child care or day care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family...
nurseries for the children of students were in place, and in 1928 new buildings to provide accommodation for 1,000 students were built at a cost of one million Roubles
Ruble
The ruble or rouble is a unit of currency. Currently, the currency units of Belarus, Russia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, and, in the past, the currency units of several other countries, notably countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union, are named rubles, though they all are...
.
From 1924 to 1930, the University's rector was Albert Petrovich Pinkevich, an important educationist and author of The New Education in the Soviet Republic, who became a victim of Stalin's Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
, "disappearing" in 1937 to a Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
labour camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
.
Moscow State Pedagogical Institute (1930–1941)
In 1930, the Second Moscow University was divided into three separate institutions: the Second Moscow State Medical Institute (now the Russian State Medical University; the Moscow State Institute of Fine Chemical Technology (now the Moscow State Academy of Fine Chemical TechnologyMoscow State Academy of Fine Chemical Technology
Moscow State University of Fine Chemical Technologies named after M. V. Lomonosov , commonly abbreviated as МИТХТ , is one of the oldest chemical educational institutions in Russia. It was founded in 1900...
) and the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, based on the teaching faculty.
By the mid 1930s the Yiddish department, now part of the Institute and headed by Meir Wiener, had become one of the world's leading centres of Yiddish scholarship.
Moscow State V. I. Lenin Pedagogical Institute (1941–1960)
For a time, the Institute took the name of Lenin. In 1960 it was combined with the Moscow City Pedagogical Institute.Moscow State Pedagogical Institute
In 1967, a Western writer on Russia called the Institute "...probably the most prestigious pedagogical institute in the USSR". Its student body then numbered 10,500.Moscow State Pedagogical University (since 1990)
The Institute regained the title of a University in 1990. In the year 1996-97, it had 12,000 students and six hundred teaching staff with the title of professor. A Bachelor's degree was awarded after four years of academic study, a teaching qualification after five years.The Seventh International Bakhtin
Mikhail Bakhtin
Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin was a Russian philosopher, literary critic, semiotician and scholar who worked on literary theory, ethics, and the philosophy of language...
Conference took place at the University in June, 1995.
Present day
The University now has eighteen faculties and 103 departments, some 20,000 students, and an active faculty of 225 professors and over nine hundred assistant professors. Seventeen staff members are full and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of SciencesRussian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
and the Russian Academy of Education.
The Prometei publishing house, of Moscow, sometimes spelt Prometey, is attached to the University.
Notable alumni
- Veronika DolinaVeronika DolinaVeronika Arkadevna Dolina is a Soviet and Russian poet, bard, and songwriter.Veronika Dolina was born in Moscow. In 1979, she graduated from the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute as a French language teacher....
, songwriter - Nikolay GlazkovNikolay GlazkovNikolai Ivanovich Glazkov ; , was a Soviet poet renowned for his uncanny and ironic verse, his alcoholism, and for jokingly coining the term samizdat, which came to be internationally known.-Life:Glazkov was born in the village of Lyskovo, in what is now Nizhegorodskaya Oblast, Russia...
, poet - Raisa Gorbachova, the wife of Mikhail GorbachevMikhail GorbachevMikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
- Vadim G. GratshevVadim G. GratshevVadim G. Gratshev was one of world leading experts in palaeoentomology. Vadim graduated from the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute in 1987 and taught biology at a high school for three years until 1989...
, paleoentomologist - Yuliy KimYuliy KimYuliy Chersanovich Kim is one of Russia's foremost bards and playwrights. His most famous works, encompassing everything from mild humor to biting political satire, include songs for movies such as Bumbarash, The Twelve Chairs, and An Ordinary Miracle, as well as the songs "The Brave Captain,"...
, author - Albert Muchnik, mathematician
- Roman PersonovRoman PersonovRoman Ivanovich Personov was a Soviet and Russian scientist, professor, doctor, one of the founders of selective laser spectroscopy of complex molecules in solids .He was awarded the Humboldt Prize in 1998....
, physicist - Lev RazgonLev RazgonLev Emmanuilovich Razgon was a Soviet and Russian writer, detainee of the Gulag, human rights activist....
, writer and the Memorial SocietyMemorial societyA memorial society can be:*A society established in memory of someone or something, e.g.:**Memorial , an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-USSR states**Sardar Amir Azam Memorial Society...
co-founder - Alexey Venediktov, journalist
- Yuri VizborYuri VizborYuri Vizbor was a well-known Soviet bard and poet as well as a theatre and film actor.-Summary:...
, actor and poet - Dmitry VodennikovDmitry VodennikovDmitry Vodennikov is a Russian poet and essayistIn 2002, he was named as one of the ten best living Russian poets in a poll of 110 leading Russian poets and critics, being one of just two poets under 35 in the top ten. Some critics name him as "perhaps the best known poet of his generation",...
, author
Notable staff
- Viktor IdzioViktor IdzioViktor Sviatoslavovych Idzio is a Ukrainian historian and director of the Ukrainian University in Moscow. Idzio was born in Ivano-Frankivsk on November 26, 1960.-Notability:...
, historian - Otto SchmidtOtto SchmidtOtto Yulyevich Schmidt was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesman, academician, Hero of the USSR , and member of the Communist Party.-Biography:He was born in Mogilev, Russian Empire...
, astronomer and member of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union - Eduard ShpolskyEduard ShpolskyEduard Vladimirovich Shpolsky, also Shpolsk'ii, Shpolskii was a Russian and Soviet physicist and educator, co-founder and lifelong editor of Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk journal .Shpolsky primary scientific contribution belongs to the field of molecular spectroscopy, particularly luminescence and...
, physicist - Igor TammIgor TammIgor Yevgenyevich Tamm was a Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate who received most prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Ilya Frank, for the discovery of Cherenkov radiation, made in 1934.-Biography:Tamm was born in Vladivostok, Russian Empire , in a...
, winner of the Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
of 1958 - Alexander TubelskyAlexander TubelskyAlexander Tubelsky , 2 October 1940, Moscow—31 May 2007, Moscow was the president of Russian teacher's "Association of democratic schools", and a professor of Moscow State Pedagogical University - Biography :...
, historian and university administrator